Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 517

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1886

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
94	27 April 1886	Henry Charles Buck Rose Mary Grigg	Henry Charles Buck Rose Mary Grigg 💍 1886/96	Widower Spinster	Providing	27 24	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	Registrars office	86/1214		27 April 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
95	27 April 1886	Frederick Henry Dans Ellen Margaret Boyle	Frederick Henry Davis Ellen Margaret Boyle 💍 1886/95	Bachelor Widow	Marine Served	33 38	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	Registrars office	86/1216		27 April 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
96	27 April 1886	George Robert Nicol Jessie Sarah Barrand	George Robert Nicol Wright Jessie Sarah Barraud 💍 1886/3520	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	31 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1201		27 April 1886	Revd John Still, C of E
97	28 April 1886	John Alexander Emily Mary Cook	John Alexander Emily Mary Cook 💍 1886/1304	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	21 24	Wellington Petone	years years	House of Mr Cook Petone	86/1246		28 April 1886	Revd W. H. West, Congre
98	28 April 1886	William Scutt Sophia Ann Ashill	William Scutt Sophia Ann Astill 💍 1886/3521	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1202	John Ashill, Father	28 April 1886	Revd John Still, C of E
99	28 April 1886	Jesse Chittenden Mary Ann Smith	Jessie Chittenden Mary Ann Smith 💍 1886/1298	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	33 34	Johnsonville Wellington	1 year years	House of Mr Podmore Alma Place	86/1240		28 April 1886	Revd J. J. Pendray, United
100	30 April 1886	James Lankey Elizabeth McCurdy	James Lankey Elizabeth McCurdy 💍 1886/97	Widower Widow	Settler	50 48	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Registrars Office	86/1218		30 April 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
101	30 April 1886	Thomas Sheriff Ronaldson Fanny Mary Berenth Luckie	Thomas Sheriff Ronaldson Fanny Mary Berand Luckie 💍 1886/3524	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Luckie Hawker Street	86/1182		30 April 1886	Revd C. Y. Ogg, Pres
102	30 April 1886	Hugh Kennedy Mary Doherty	Hugh Kennedy Mary Doherty 💍 1886/1286	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 28	Wellington Wellington	10 days 3 months	St. Marys Cathedral	86/1179		30 April 1886	Revd J. McNamara, C of E
103	5 May 1886	Lachlan Grant Jessie Ure	Lachlan Grant Jessie Ure 💍 1886/109	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	26 22	Petone Petone	1 year 4 days	House of Mr Dunn Petone	86/1204		5 May 1886	Revd G. D. Rodger, Pres
104	5 May 1886	Edward Harrison Eliza Styles	Edward Harrison Eliza Styles 💍 1886/98	Bachelor Widow	Carter	32 39	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office	86/1219		5 May 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
105	6 May 1886	James Jackson Emma Bristow	James Jackson Emma Briston 💍 1886/1698	Widower Spinster	Painter	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of the Revd W. C. Oliver	86/1636		6 May 1886	Revd W. C. Oliver, Pres

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).